Inner and Outer Manchuria

     In an earlier blog and in The Manchurian Tales I make mention of the fact that Manchuria in the past was much bigger than it is today.  Prior to mid 19th Century, the area that was called Manchuria was about twice the size that it is today, and it even included the large island of Sakhalin!  In those days, a portion of it was called Outer Manchuria, and about an equal size portion was called Inner Manchuria.  What there is today is what used to be Inner Manchuria with a few additional pieces missing.
     As strange as it may seem, in ancient times, that whole region was part of series of Korean Dynasties or Empires, beginning with Puyo (494 BC - 200 BC), Gochosun (200 BC - 37 AD), Koguryo (37 AD - 668 AD), Palhe (698 AD - 926 AD).  So the entire region was populated with Koreans, as well as other groups that are identified as native Manchurians.  But, all of them, Koreans included, are of Tungus origin, racially the same and indistinguishable, but different from the Chinese who refer to themselves as "han" people.  As each empire or dynasty faded, the people simply mixed-in within the population.  It is highly unlikely that Koreans moved out of the area once the Korean Dynasties or Empires died out.  So, in a sense, Koreans could lay claim to that whole territory.  All of this took place centuries ago and long forgotten and really is of no significance today.  However, what happened in more recent times, in the 19th Century, is of much more interest and significance.
     At the conclusion of the infamous Opium Wars that that European nations (mainly the British Empire) waged against China, a series of treaties historically known as "Unequal Treaties" were initiated between the victors and the Ching Dynasty China.  Aside from keeping their opium trade alive, the British got Hong Kong and other concessions, the Portuguese got Macao, and Shanghai was cut up into pieces like a pie.  Russia, not to be left out of this "Unequal Treaties" feeding frenzy, signed two treaties with China, the Treaty of Aigun in 1858 and the Treaty of Peking in 1860 and gained all of the territory that was known as Outer Manchuria!  Forty years later, in 1900, Russia launched a military invasion into an area called the "Sixty Four Villages" and forcibly took an additional chunk of land from a weak and totally ineffectual Chinese government.  This was almost exactly like what is taking place in Ukraine today!  So, within a matter of half a century, Russia reduced the size of Chinese territory in Manchuria by half!  What remained was the Inner Manchuria, the territory that we know today as Manchuria.
     Chances are that had Russia not lost the war to Japan in 1905, all of Manchuria would have fallen under Russian rule.  Russia had already established itself with the railroad and the city of Harbin.  In fact, in the early 20th Century, Harbin was often referred to by international press as Harbin, Russia or "Russian Harbin."  Chinese government always seemed to lack interest in the region that was officially referred to as Guandong ("the other side of the pass"), a pass over the mountains that led from China into Manchuria.  The other name that was often used for the area was the "northeast region."  Later, the Chinese started to call the area the "three province region," trying to associate it closer with China.
     As I have discussed in The Manchurian Tales and some of the earlier blogs, the name Manchuria was supposedly an invention of a Japanese scholar in the early 19th Century.  The name Manchu was used by the Nuchen/Jurchen prince Nurhachi, to unite all of the various tribes, including Koreans.  Nurhachi's descendants went on to conquer China in the 17th Century and established the Ching Dynasty.
     So, the area that we call Manchuria today has a long and fascinating history.  Although it is somewhat of a stretch, you could theoretically say that all of that real estate, Manchuria and part of Siberia, is part of Korea.....at least historically!  You could also say that all of the territory gained by Russia in the 19th Century (most of it that is known as Primorsky Krai), is actually Manchuria.  If Manchuria was not gobbled up by Russia, in its original size it would be the size of half of China, rather than about a fifth that it is today.  And, if ancient Korean empires had held on to their territory, today Korea would be half the size of China instead of being the size of the state of Florida (South Korea alone would be half the size of Florida!).  Then again, had we not gone to war against Mexico and gained all that territory, the U.S. would be smaller, and if we didn't make the Louisiana Purchase and bought Alaska from the normally land greedy Russians (who were broke and foolish at the time!), we would not be anywhere as large as we are today.
    

"White Merchandise" 3

     Japan's short lived control of opium trade in China and Manchuria ended with the conclusion of WWII.  However, although Japan did control much of the drug trade in Manchuria, they were not the only ones involved in opium trade.  The various Chinese criminal gangs and the bandits, the "hoonhoozy" were always involved in drugs.  The Chinese war lords were also very much involved.  In Manchuria, Chiang Tso Lin controlled the opium trade by and large.  He struck up a deal with the Japanese, mainly to keep the "hoonhoozy" in line.  But the Japanese double crossed him and had him assassinated.  His son Chiang Su Lin took over where his dad left off.  He had a somewhat uneven relationship with the Japanese, but still managed to control a big part of the opium trade in Manchuria before he too was killed.
     In the rest of China, opium growing and opium trade in general was controlled by various criminal gangs as well as war lords.  The powerful Green Gang had a big chunk of the opium trade, as did the Red Gang.  These criminal gangs were what are known today as Triads.  The Koumintang, the Chinese Nationalist Party, allied itself with the Green and Red Gangs and received financial support from them.  Of course, the Koumintang, led by Chiang Kai Shek, also received millions in currency as well as weapons from the United States!  The Chinese Communist Party, led by Mao Tse Tung, cultivated its own opium and sold it to support its revolutionary effort against the Nationalists!  So, both the Nationalists and the communists were involved in opium trade and their treasury was maintained by the profits from opium sales!
     After the end of WWII, when the Chinese Civil War escalated the corrupt and inept Nationalists were getting chased off China by Mao's communist forces.  As the Nationalists were getting chased off mainland China, Chiang Kai Shek and about two million Nationalists, both civilians and military, fled south and ended up on Taiwan.  Another element, mostly made up of fleeing Nationalist troops led by General Li Ma, fled in a southwesterly direction and crossed the border into Burma/Thailand region.  After regrouping, with U.S. support, the plan was to launch a two pronged invasion of mainland China from southwest with General Li's forces and from southeast (Taiwan) with Chiang Kai Shek's forces.  CIA managed to get General Li to launch a couple of half-hearted, very unsuccessful invasion attempts, while in Taiwan, Chiang Kai Shek was embroiled in a political battle and no invasion was ever launched.
     When it became obvious that no "two pronged" invasion was ever going to take place, CIA and the U.S. government gave up on the plan of re-conquest of China by Nationalist.  General Li, on the other hand, apparently never seriously had any plans of retaking China.  He was more interested in establishing himself in an isolated eastern part of Burma known as the Shan State and develop an opium empire.  And so he did.  The infamous "Golden Triangle" region that to this day grows huge amounts of opium and is controlled by an "Opium Army," got its start as the Chinese Nationalist Army members who retreated into that region to escape from Mao's communists! 
     In mainland China, despite extreme measures, opium trade still exists.  The punishment dealt by PRC to growers, dealers and users may seem extreme by our standards.  Anyone connected with the drug trade are simply shot after a quick trial and the family of the executed is presented with a bill from the government for the price of the bullet!  With such extreme measures, you would think there wouldn't be a drug problem in China.  But it exists, despite extreme measures that the government takes.  Money, obviously, trumps everything!
     The "white merchandise" or "bely tovar" is still cultivated and sold in Manchuria and Primorye.  It may not be grown in as large quantity as before nor sold with such impunity as it was sold in the old   days in Harbin, but it is still there.  If you mention "bely tovar" in Manchuria today, perhaps no one will understand what it means.  Just like the name uhl mao zeh for Russian Koreans, it is a name from the past, a name from another time, another world.

"White Merchandise" 2

     Throughout the 18th and most of the 19th Century, the British East India Company was the biggest drug cartel in the world.  When you consider that the British Empire had the largest GNP of all countries in the world, and 25% of its GNP was derived from opium trade, you can see how important the opium trade was to the empire.  Other nations also traded in opium, hashish, and cocaine, but not to the extent of the British Empire.  Ironically, the drugs were not illegal anywhere, not in Asia, not in Europe nor in America at this time!
     By the end of the 19th Century Britain lost its monopoly on opium trade.  Opium was grown in China and Manchuria, and local suppliers could provide drugs faster, and cheaper.  China, the country that twice went to war in order to prevent opium from entering its borders, now grew its own supply!  But once the new 20th Century began, another country stepped-in to take over where Britain left off in Asian opium trade, Japan!
     Japan developed a policy of growing and supplying opium to Chinese and other "inferior races" as they called them, in order to subjugate them.  Japan didn't get involved in opium trade early in the century when it first gained foothold in Manchuria after the Russo-Japanese War.  However, they soon saw the economic advantage of controlling the opium trade and by the 1930s was deeply involved.  A major cigarette manufacturer in Japan produced a brand of cigarettes that were called "Golden Bat."  The "Golden Bat" cigarettes were spiked with opium and were illegal for sale in Japan, they were for overseas sales only.  The idea was obviously to "hook" Chinese into opium usage! 
     By the 1930s, the head of Japanese Army Intelligence in Manchuria, General Kenji Doihara, became the biggest drug lord in China and Manchuria!  Doihara, along with several other Japanese generals and government officials as well as businessmen, formed an organization that was called Nikisansuke.  They controlled and managed not just the opium trade but prostitution and other criminal activities as well. The Nikisansuke was an extremely powerful organization that even government heads in Tokyo had to mind.  Japanese used its army, the elite Kwantung Army, to control the opium trade.  As it was pointed out in The Manchurian Tales, competition was not tolerated and dealt with ruthlessly.
     Japanese had acres and acres of land in Manchuria where they grew opium, which was harvested, refined, then shipped out for distribution, mainly in China.  As far fetched as it may sound, the idea was to turn China into a nation of drug addicts which the Japanese could control at will.  Along with sexual slavery of women, the so-called "comfort women,"and the biological and chemical weapon experimentation on Chinese subjects, the Japanese involvement in opium trade in Manchuria was one of those unimaginably cruel and inhumane practices that many in Japan to this day refuse to believe took place despite ample proof.
     Most of the members of the infamous Nikisansuke were captured and tried as War Criminals in 1946. General Doihara, along with his cronies were all executed.  Doihara in particular was singled out as being the head of the Japanese opium trade!  So, although the Japanese took over the opium trade in China and Manchuria from the British, their dominance in the drug trade was somewhat short lived, less than a half a century.
    

"White Merchandise"

     "White merchandise" or "bely tovar" in Russian was the colloquial term used to refer to opium in Manchuria and Primorye, the Russian Far East.  In The Manchurian Tales I make reference to the "white merchandise"/"bely tovar" in several instances and devote a whole chapter with the title of "Bely Tovar."  The character in that chapter, Dima, is basically a small time opium dealer, of which there were many in Manchuria.  I made passing reference to Chiang Su Lin, the Chinese war lord as being a big time dealer.  His father Chiang  Tso Lin was also a big time opium dealer before he was assassinated by the Japanese.  The opium trade in that part of the world goes back a ways, first brought about by the British!  That is not to say that opium was unavailable or unknown in those parts until British introduced it.  Opium was first introduced into China somewhere around the 6th Century from the Middle East.  However, Chinese used opium primarily for medicinal purposes, although no doubt there were some who used it recreationally and became addicted.  Nevertheless, it was not widely available nor widely used.
     For those who are unaware, the British introduced opium into China in larger quantities starting around the 17th Century.  The British East India Company brought the opium from India/Pakistan/Afghanistan region and sold it or traded it for Chinese goods, mainly tea, silk, and porcelain items, none of which the European countries could produce at the time.  The more trading took place, the more opium was sold or dumped on China.  The Ching Dynasty government became alarmed and refused to accept opium into China and thus began the first Opium War which lasted from 1939 until 1842.  The Chinese lost, so the British continued to bring in opium, in larger and larger quantity.  Addiction became a major problem and the Chinese government once again objected and the second Opium War took place from 1856 to 1860.  In each war, the Chinese army was no match for the British troops, especially the navy which bombarded Chinese cities indiscriminately, killing thousands of civilians.  At the end of the second Opium War, China not only lost the war but gave up more concessions. Hong Kong was ceded to the British at the end of the first Opium War.  Around 1860, 25% of British Empire's GNP was derived from the opium trade, which the British grew in India/Pakistan/Afghanistan region and sold to China.  But the British were not the only ones that got rich from the opium trade.  Just about all of the major European nations were involved, and yes, America was involved as well.
     The fastest ships at that time were the so-called ".Yankee Clippers"  They could load the opium bundles at Indian ports and deliver them to China faster than any one else.  Most notably, the shipping company of Russel & Co. out of Boston, owned by Warren Delano, was the biggest participant on the American side.  There were many other American companies that were involved, but Delano and his Russel & Co benefited the most from the opium trade.  When a reporter questioned Delano on the legitimacy of the opium trade, he responded by saying that it was a "fair, honorable, and legitimate" business!  Warren Delano became one of the richest men in America, all from the opium trade.  He was, by the way, the grandfather of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was FDR's maternal grandfather.
     By the late 19th Century, opium started to appear from other regions, regions not controlled by the British and also grown in China itself.  The East India Company no longer had the monopoly and therefore, the British lost the dominance in opium trade.  Many farmers in China and outlying regions like Manchuria and Primorye in Russia discovered that growing opium was much more lucrative than trying to scratch out a living growing crops in a region that had a very short growing season.  Ironically opium grew quite well in Manchuria and Primorye, seemingly not bothered by the cold climate.  So, the whole business of opium trade shifted, instead of being imported, it was now homegrown.
    

Korean Freedom Fighters

     The Manchurian Tales is about Russian Koreans, specifically about a smaller group of Russian Koreans that ended up in Manchuria and called themselves uhl mao zeh.  Therefore, although anti Japanese guerrilla groups, the Korean Freedom Fighters, were mentioned, there was no detailed explanation or discussion of the freedom fighters.  One of the characters in the book joins the Korean guerrillas and ends up getting killed.  Later, in the chapters dealing with the Korean War, mention is made that much of North Korea's People's Army, the in min gun were made up of experienced Soviet cadre.  There is also mention of the palchisan, the guerrilla or special operations units that were made up of many former Korean Freedom Fighters. 
     The South Korean army did not have the benefit of so many experienced combat veterans.  To be sure, there were some former Korean Freedom Fighters who did not stay in the north and ended up in the newly created South Korean army.  In fact, the commanding general of the newly formed South Korean army was a former freedom fighter.  However, in contrast to the north, the number of former freedom fighters in the South Korean army was very small.  Additionally, the experience gained by these former freedom fighters did not necessarily translate well into regular army, and South Korea did not have a Special Operations unit at the time.
     Many of the Korean Freedom Fighters who were in leadership roles held lofty, somewhat inflated titles.  For instance, Kim Il Sung was a division commander in the freedom fighter army and held a rank of a general.  However, the men he actually commanded may have numbered  a couple of hundred at most!  It would have been a stretch to even call him a battalion commander, he was actually more like a company commander.  Small wonder then that when he later joined the Soviet Red Army, he was first made a company commander and later promoted to a battalion commander.  The Korean Freedom Fighters purposely inflated their titles/ranks and numbers to give the Japanese the impression that there were a lot more of them than there really were! 
     The freedom fighters were formed almost immediately with the Japanese occupation of Korea after the Russo Japanese war, before annexation took place.  In 1906, a year after Japanese occupation there were already groups of freedom fighters operating in Korea.  However, just as it was mentioned in The Manchurian Tales, the new freedom fighters lacked proper military training.  Korea did not have a modern army before Japanese occupation, so there was no place for young men to received modern military training.  Later, some of the freedom fighters escaped to China and received some training from the Chinese.  However, China's own army was no great shakes at the time so the training must not have been all that good.  It wasn't until the Soviets got involved that the freedom fighters began to not only receive better training, but some combat experienced former soldiers, the Russian Koreans and other Koreans who had served with the Red Army.
     Despite their valiant effort, the Korean Freedom Fighters were badly outnumbered and outgunned.  Most of the skirmishes were squad or platoon sized fire fights, no major battles to speak of.  The Japanese, despite the fact that they were busy fighting the Chinese in a full scale war, still managed to get the Korean guerrilla movement under control.  By 1940, the Korean Freedom Fighters left southern Manchuria and northern Korea where they were fighting the Japanese.  Some ended up in China and fought the Japanese as Chinese guerrillas or soldiers, others went to Russia where they were put into Red Army units such as the Siberian Infantry Brigade where Kim Il Sung served out the war.  After WWII, some remained in the Soviet Red Army, others either volunteered or were sent to North Korea to form the new People's Army.  Those who served in China mostly came to North Korea, although some may have chosen to stay in China.

The Tragedy of Russian Koreans

     In The Manchurian Tales, I attempted to give the readers a glimpse of the tragedies suffered by the Russian Koreans, in this case, the much smaller group that ended up in Manchuria and called itself uhl mao zeh.  The vast majority of Russian Koreans, however, ended up in the Soviet Central Asia, in a god forsaken region into which they were banished by Stalin.  Stalin, who was a member of ethnic minority himself (Georgian), nevertheless showed racist tendencies and actually conducted ethnic cleansing when he deported the Russian Koreans from Primorsky Krai, the Russian Far East.  These Russian Koreans are known today by the name of koryo saram (koryo person).  A curious name, considering that Koryo Dynasty(918-1392 AD), from which the name Korea is derived, existed centuries before Korean migration into Russia had taken place in large numbers in the late 1800s during the Chosun Dynasty (the last Korean Dynasty before Japanese rule).  So, you would think that chosun saram would be a more appropriate name.  However,  I believe that the name koryo saram came into use by Russian Koreans in more recent times, after 1945 when North Korean state was established.  The communist north calls itself Chosun In Min Kong Wha Guk, which translates into People's Democratic Republic of Korea.  I believe that the Russian Koreans wanted  to differentiate themselves from the North Koreans who call themselves chosun saram.  The South Koreans, incidentally, call themselves hanguk saram, and never use the name chosun to refer to themselves.
     As I have mentioned in the earlier blogs, the Russian Koreans, despite cruel and shabby treatment by the Soviet government, still managed to pull themselves up and succeed in many areas, including politics.  Ironically, the treatment of ethnic Koreans by Russian government was much better under the old Tsarist regime.  Under the old system, if you were a Russian citizen and of Russian Orthodox faith, you were accepted regardless of your ethnicity.  Therefore, many Russian Koreans, those with ability and education, could rise to high positions before the revolution.  It seems that the more educated members of the Russian society were much more accepting of ethnic minorities than the less educated masses that took power after the revolution.  That seems to hold true in any society, including our own.  The more educated members of the society tend to be more tolerant and accepting of other ethnic and religious groups than the less educated.  So, after the revolution, the Russian Koreans that remained in Russia were faced with a rather unfriendly regime that had either chased off or killed off most of its educated classes.  The Russian Koreans were treated like second class citizens and banished  to border regions by the new regime.  It took the WWII, to allow Russian Koreans, who excelled in military service and academia, to move up in the Soviet society.
     The much smaller group of Russian Koreans that managed to escape to Manchuria had a different experience from their brethren who stayed in Russia.  First off, before 1931 and Japanese take over, they were in a much freer society, and those who had money could afford to send their children to be educated abroad. Even after Japanese rule in 1931, they still had more freedom than under Soviet system.  Many of these uhl mao zeh were educated in Europe and some even in America.  They became multi-lingual and cosmopolitan.  They did not experience racism and discrimination like those who stayed in Russia.  Their relationship with Russians in Manchuria was on equal footing.  The Russians who escaped to Manchuria were of better educated class as well.  But, unlike those that remained in Russia and were deported to Central Asia, the uhl mao zeh, as well as their Russian counterparts, were stateless, without a country.  At least those that were in Russia and Central Asia had Soviet citizenship!  The uhl mao zeh were people without a place to call home.  So it was a trade-off of sorts, for relative freedom that they enjoyed, the uhl mao zeh had no country to call their own.  On the other hand, the ones that called themselves koryo saram, lived in a communist state with no personal freedom, but did have a country to call their own, the Soviet Union.  Either way, whether they were uhl mao zeh or koryo saram, their history is full of incredible tragedies, both at a personal level as well as the entire group known as Russian Koreans.

Russian Koreans and North Korea

     Most people, including the North Koreans themselves, have very little knowledge of what role the Russian Koreans played in the establishment of the North Korean government and the formation of its People's Army.  Those in the west, have always had an inkling that Kim Il Sung, the first head of North Korea had some ties with Russia.  There have been all sorts of rumors about Kim Il Sung's involvement with the Soviet Red Army, etc.  Kim Il Sung, although born in North Korea, was trained in the Soviet Union and did serve both as a communist anti-Japanese guerrilla leader before WWII, and during WWII, as a Battalion Commander in the Soviet Red Army, the 88th Infantry Brigade that was mostly made up of Russian Koreans that fought in Stalingrad.  Some claim that he finished his Soviet Army career as the Brigade Commander.  Whatever the case, he was not without battle experience, most of it earned while fighting for the Soviets.  His son, the late lunatic Kim Jong Il, the father of current "Great Leader" was born in Russian, in Khabarovsk.  His birth certificate states that he was named Yuri Iresenivich Kim at birth, so he was a Russian Korean.
     When WWII ended in 1945 and Korea was split in half, awaiting "free democratic elections" to take place.  The Soviets moved-in "their people," Russian Koreans en-masse!  They had battle hardened NCOs and officers that they immediately employed to form the new People's Army.  Young men were recruited or drafted and trained by these battle hardened Soviet soldiers.  Kim Il Sung was named the head (before the "free elections!") and a Soviet military infrastructure was immediately established.  Meanwhile, in the southern half, under U.S. occupation, there was no Korean government or army, that was to take place two years down the road, after the "free elections" that never took place.  The Republic of Korea was formed in 1947 and its first President was Syngman Rhee.  So, starting in 1947, the South Korean or Republic of Korea Army was established, in name only!  It was armed with captured Japanese weaponry, and its cadre consisted mostly of inexperienced NCOs and officers, a few had served in Japanese army in non-combat capacity.  Possibly the most accomplished Republic of Korea Army officer was Park Chung Hee, who was a former Lieutenant in the Japanese Army!  Park went on to become a very successful Army General and President of South Korea.  He was the father of present day South Korean President.
     Contrast the South Korean situation with North Korea.  The North had a two year head start in training an army.  Its NCO and officer corps was heavily filled with Russian Koreans who were combat veterans and armed with familiar Soviet weaponry.  The North Korean Chief of Staff was a Russian Korean who was a Major General in the Soviet Army during WWII!  He was a graduate of Smolensk Military Academy and later went on to become the Foreign Minister of North Korea.  It is no wonder then that when the war broke out on June 25, 1950, the North Korean Army pushed to the south without any resistance to speak of.  They essentially advanced as fast as their T-34 tanks could move.  The capital city of Seoul fell in two days!  The South Korean Army was no match for the North Koreans.
     Unfortunately, Washington badly misjudged the situation in the north (their intentions) and the ensuing war that broke out.  There were no combat troops in Korea, just some administrative types.  Japan supposedly had some U.S. combat troops, but in reality, the U.S. military was gutted after the end of WWII and the troops in Japan were inexperienced, ill prepared "occupation" forces.  The units that were stationed in Japan were not ready for combat.  Some of these units had not seen any combat training in over a year, let alone actual combat!  So, our experience at the outset of the war was just as disastrous as that of the ill prepared South Korean army.  Sadly, it seems that after every major conflict, we reduce our military to bare bones, then find ourselves in a desperate situation trying to build up the strength when another conflict erupts.  In the meantime, those troops that were caught in the situation short handed, are literally sacrificed until the strength is built up.

Deportation/"Resettlement" of Russian Koreans

     In The Manchurian Tales, I mention the deportation of Russian Koreans from Primorsky Krai in Siberia in the 1930s, followed by the deportation of Russian Koreans from Manchuria in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  The Soviets used the term "resettlement," but in reality, it was deportation.  Resettlements are usually mutually agreed upon moves (most of the time!) whereas deportations are something that are forced.
     Starting in the mid to late 1920s, once the civil war in Russia had come to a conclusion and Stalin had assumed control of the new Soviet Union, Russian Koreans in Siberia were forcibly moved, practically to the other side of the world, to Soviet Central Asia.  Most of them ended up in Kazakhstan, others ended up in neighboring states that were just as dismal and undeveloped as Kazakhstan at that time. The Soviets claimed that the Russian Koreans were "resettled" in these undeveloped regions so that they could help develop them, bring them into the modern world.  No doubt that was part of the reason.  But the main reason was that Stalin did not trust Russian Koreans.  He was afraid that they would side with Japan, since Korea was a Japanese colony at that time.  It didn't seem to matter to him that there were large number of Koreans, including Russian Koreans, who fought the Japanese in guerrilla warfare.  Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of the current "Great Leader" of North Korea gained fame as a guerrilla leader and a devout communist fighting the Japanese, and Stalin was aware of him. 
     Still, Stalin did not trust the ethnic Koreans and had all of them, all that he could round up, shipped off to Central Asia.  People had to abandon everything, just grab what they could and board cattle cars that took them across Siberia to the distant land.  Many of them were loyal communists!  The hardship suffered by these people is indescribable.  Many died in transit, others died of illness upon arrival in Central Asia.
     When the Soviets entered Harbin in the summer of 1945, at first there was terror in the form of criminal activities of the Soviet troops, looting, rape, murder, etc.  This was followed by arrests of suspected "enemies" of the Soviet Union.  People were hauled off in the middle of the night never to be heard from again.  Most were shot within days or shipped off to Gulags in Siberia.  After a while things seem to calm down, but then, another form of terror began for Russian speaking population in Harbin.  Most Russians were shipped to different places in Russia, many were simply sent to labor camps.  Russian Koreans, on the other hand, were shipped off to Soviet Central Asia.  Just as their friends and relatives who remained in Russia experienced some 25 years earlier, the Russian Koreans in Harbin were rounded up and put on trains and sent off.  They could only take what they could carry, small bundles and bags, nothing else.  They had to abandon everything. 
     Harbin was one of the most modern cities in Asia at that time.  It had all of the modern conveniences, electricity, plumbing, modern hospitals, schools, etc.  From these surroundings, the uhl mao zeh, the Russian Koreans in Harbin, were moved to remote Soviet Central Asia with primitive facilities, with no indoor plumbing or electricity.  They were simply deposited in these regions after a long and tortuous journey, and told to make do.  They were there to help develop the region.  It was a terrible and inhumane thing for Soviets to do, but then, they were not known for their kind and gentle approach!  Suicide rate among the newly arrived uhl mao zeh was high.  Some viewed their new situation as  completely hopeless.  Yet, they somehow persevered and survived, and in some cases, even prospered by attaining good jobs and positions as professionals.  The uhl mao zeh of Manchuria were no more, they disappeared.  Instead, the remaining Russian Koreans in the region, the ones that call themselves koryo saram, managed to establish themselves as an important and integral part of that region.  Koryo saram is a curious choice of name for these people, but then, that is another subject for another blog.
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Soviet's in Manchuria Part 2

     The criminal activities of Soviet soldiers in Harbin began immediately upon their entry into the city.  However, the terror of Soviet occupation of Harbin was only just beginning with criminal activity of its soldiers.  Within days of their occupation of the city, the Soviet intelligence units began scouring the city and "interviewing" all of the Russian speaking residents.  The Soviets had detailed lists of everyone, lists that were supplied by their informers who had been in Harbin since the first wave of escapees from the Bolsheviks arrived shortly after 1918.  These informers, known as "stukachi" were either those who were coerced into becoming Soviet snitches or were in fact communists who believed in the Soviet system.  There certainly was no shortage of  stukachi in Harbin and some used the opportunity to carry out personal grudges that they held against others.  The Soviets did not miss anyone, they saw everybody who was Russian or Russian Korean (uhl mao zeh), anyone who came from Russia.
     The initial "interviews" were very cordial, seemingly very innocuous in nature.  Then, a few days to perhaps even weeks later, another crew would show up at the house.  This time they would not be so friendly, and usually they were not members of intelligence unit, but rather just some military police affiliated soldiers.  They were rough, vicious at times, and dragged off people who were usually never seen or heard from again.  Three possibilities existed when people were hauled off like that.  One, they were shortly simply shot and dumped in a common grave.  Two, they were put in prison before a decision was made to shoot the individual or send them off to Siberia, and three, they would be simply sent off to a Gulag for slave labor.  Once the Soviets started hauling away people, true terror set in among Harbin's Russian speakers.  There was no place to run, and no one knew what was going to happen next.  Anyone who had any affiliation or contact with the Japanese was arrested.  Anyone who was even suspected of having affiliation or contact with the Japanese was arrested as well.  Many were simply at the mercy of the numerous stukachi who carried out personal grudges by accusing individuals of crimes against the Soviet Union.  If a stukatch said you collaborated with the Japanese, you were gone!  There was no opportunity to prove otherwise.
     The first year of Soviet occupation, the first six months, was a period of reign of terror.  No one knew what was going to happen next.  No one knew if they would be found guilty by the Soviets of some crime against the Soviet Union or if a stukach decided to point a finger in their direction.  It was a terrible time for Russians and Russian Koreans in Harbin.  Finally, things seem to settle down a bit.  The Soviet appeared to have arrested and hauled off all of the people that they thought were "guilty."  The remaining population of Russians and Russian Koreans gave a sigh of relief.  Finally, the reign of terror was over, or so they thought.

Soviets in Manchuria

     When the Soviet Red Army rolled into Manchuria in the closing days of World War Two, it was quite a shock to most residents in Harbin.  It wasn't all that long ago that the Japanese army had marched into Harbin to install the puppet Manchukuo regime, just 14 years earlier.  Japanese were far from being popular with the general population in Harbin, whether Russian or Chinese.  But, they were orderly, clean, and did not loot and otherwise misbehave.  They may have been intensely disliked by the residents of Harbin, and their rule was harsh and cruel.  They conducted some horrible experiments with chemical/biological weapons and forced women into sexual slavery as "comfort women," and generally treated everyone as second class citizens, if they were not Japanese.  But the residents of Harbin had to admit that the Japanese established order.  They managed to somewhat control the "hoonhoozy" problem and crime in general was low.  The Japanese army may have conducted itself like horrific criminals in Nanking, but in Harbin, they behaved.
     It was a completely different story with the Soviets.  The reputation of their behavior in Berlin and other places had preceded their arrival in Harbin, and they did not disappoint!  The Soviet troops looted, robbed, raped, and generally behaved as well armed street gangs!  It was a very common practice for a Soviet soldier to stand on a street corner, waving his "burp gun" and saying "davai, davai!" ("give, give!") to passersby, stripping the victims of all money and valuables.  It seemed that the officers were unable or unwilling to control the troops.  Fortunately, this type of behavior died down after a time.
     One of the first things that the Russian speaking population of Harbin noticed was the language spoken by the Soviet troops.  It was a very low form of Russian, a sort of a "hillbilly Russian!"  It was amazing how much the Russian language changed in the short period after the Bolsheviks took over the country.  In a little over a generation, the language had become coarse, and in some cases downright vulgar.  The usage of "ti" (same as Spanish tu) was common place, the polite form of "vy" (same as Spanish usted) seemed to have disappeared.  There were officers who spoke correct Russian, but vast majority soldiers spoke a form that was grammatically incorrect, and full of words formally considered vulgar.
     It made sense.  When the Bolsheviks took over Russia, they either imprisoned or killed off, or chased off all of the intelligentsia and others who they considered to be bourgeois!  The peasantry and the uneducated masses remained, and they made up most of the population of the new Soviet Union!  There was a time, in the 1920s in the Soviet Union, when there was such a shortage of teachers that to teach at a high school, you only had to be a high school graduate!  Of course in time the situation was corrected, but the language changed very rapidly.  Most Russians in Harbin used to laugh at the Soviets and their improper use of language, behind their backs, of course!  The Soviets, in turn, seemed to be somewhat intimidated by the more educated Harbin residents who obviously spoke a different level of Russian and lived in surroundings that were luxurious by Soviet standards.   The Soviets and the Russians in Harbin were separated for a quarter of a century, yet it seemed that they were from two completely different worlds.

"Stateless"

     To most people today, the word "stateless" has little meaning, other than the fact that someone who is stateless is without citizenship.  But to hundreds of thousands of Russians and Russian Koreans (uhl mao zeh), "stateless" meant that they had no status whatsoever.  Initially, when the wave of Russians and Russian Koreans left Primorsky Krai to escape the Bolsheviks and fled to Manchuria, they retained their Russian citizenship.  Manchuria, which was under the administration of the new Chinese Nationalist government, still recognized the Tsarist government and therefore, considered all escapees from Russia as bona fide Russian citizens.  However, it didn't take long for the Chinese to establish ties with the new Soviet government and no longer recognize the Tsarist regime.  Many of the Nationalists, including Chiang Kai Shek were trained in Moscow by the Soviets. Overnight, Russians and Russian Koreans in Manchuria found themselves stateless, with no status or any sort of rights normally extended to citizens of other countries.
     It was difficult enough to find decent work in Manchuria, but when your status became that of a stateless, it was almost impossible to get a good job.  It didn't matter if you had special skills or were highly educated, you still could not get a good job. As an example, an architect would be hired by a Chinese firm to be a draftsman, not as an architect.  The only area where you could still perform your specialized skills was in medicine.  Doctors were always needed so if you were qualified, you could practice medicine.  Fortunately, "stateless" businessmen could continue to run their businesses, despite their lack of citizenship status.  There were, of course, foreign companies that would hire stateless individuals if they had the right training and skills.  But otherwise, it was a very tough situation for the stateless.  You had no papers that allowed you to travel.  Besides, to travel, you had to have money.  It was much more expensive in those days to travel than it is today.
     When the Japanese took over Manchuria officially by establishing the puppet government of Manchukuo, theoretically it improved the situation for the stateless.  But in fact, it did not do much.  The Manchukuo government was not recognized by most countries other than Japan and its allies, and bearers of Manchukuo passports in a sense carried worthless documents.  Fortunately, in those times, travel was not as restrictive as it is today for those without proper documentation.  As long as you had a document that identified you correctly, you could use that document to travel.  The main thing was to have the financial means to travel. That would not work today! 
     Of course, the stateless Russians were not only found in Manchuria, there were thousands of former "white" Russians in Europe as well.  Whether they were in Asia or Europe, the former "white" Russians (and the Russian Koreans) all suffered the same fate.  They were stateless with no place to call their own.  In the more recent times, the only similar situation that beset a large population of people was what happened to the Vietnamese who fled their country after the fall of Saigon.  Overnight, there was no longer the Republic of Vietnam, it disappeared just as the Tsarist Russia disappeared many years earlier.